Experts endorse Sean Cairncross for national cyber director ahead of Senate hearing

The letter to Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee leaders comes shortly before they consider his nomination.

President Donald Trump’s pick to serve as national cyber director was endorsed by a collection of cyber experts days before a Senate panel will consider his nomination.

The 24 people who signed the letter endorsing Sean Cairncross include former government officials and current industry leaders, many who served in Republican-led administrations but some who also served under Democrats — including the first national cyber director, Chris Inglis.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on Cairncross’ nomination Thursday, and at the same time consider fellow Sean Plankey to lead the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The experts sent their letter about Cainrcross to the leaders of the committee Monday.

Cairncross — a former White House and Republican National Committee official and the former CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a federal foreign aid agency — has minimal cyber experience compared to his predecessors, but the letter from the experts emphasized other qualities they said would make him worthy of the role.

“His impressive combination of experience in both the public and private sectors, as well as his ability to navigate government, build coalitions, and implement strategic approaches to the challenges facing the United States make Sean situated particularly well to this role,” they wrote. “In short, we believe that Sean is tremendously well suited for the challenging position of National Cyber Director.”

Big names from the first Trump administration were among the letter’s signatories, among them former top Department of Homeland Security officials Kirstjen Nielsen, Chad Wolf and Brian Harrell; former homeland security adviser Tom Bossert; and Bill Evanina, former director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center.

Industry officials signing the letter included Adam Meyers from CrowdStrike; Chris Roberti from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Bruce Byrd of Palo Alto Networks; and Dave DeWalt of NightDragon. A number of former Cyberspace Solarium Commission members and staffers also signed the letter, such as Frank Cilluffo, Tom Fanning and Mark Montgomery. Cilluffo’s McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure at Auburn University led the letter.

“As a group of senior national security experts with decades of experience in both the public and private sectors, we write to express our unanimous and enthusiastic support for Mr. Cairncross’s nomination,” they said. “Sean has a strong record of public service, outstanding credentials, as well as a demonstrated and unwavering commitment to advancing U.S. national security.

“Building on the good work that has come before will require a focus on implementation of strategy, and Sean is exceedingly well prepared to undertake these stated challenges,” they continued.

You can read the full letter below.

This story was updated June 3 to correct the spelling of Tom Fanning’s name.

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